Not So Alone Anymore
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: AU. Shonen ai, oneshot. Malik gets tired of hearing his two friends bicker and goes off to find something better to do. He winds up in the park where he runs into a certain whitehaired boy. MalikRyou


Not So Alone Anymore

Summary: AU Malik gets tired of hearing his two friends bicker and goes off to find something better to do. He winds up in the park where he runs into a certain white-haired boy. Shonen ai, one-shot. Malik/Ryou (angstshipping), Mariku/Bakura (psychoshipping), Yami/Yugi (puzzleshipping)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Yugioh. If I did, things would be _very _different on the show. I do own the plot for this little fanfiction though.

_**-N-O-T--S-O--A-L-O-N-E--A-N-Y-M-O-R-E--N-O-T--S-O--A-L-O-N-E--A-N-Y-M-O-R-E-**_

Light copper fingers strum boredly across a wooden table. Lilac eyes stare unseeingly into the air. Soft sighs issue from slightly open lips. Malik Ishtar is bored.

"Beat me! Me, the King of Thieves? I think not!"

He's bored and tired of his two friends constant bickering over who's better and who will be the first to defeat "the Pharaoh" in a game.

"Bakura, stealing some stuff from idiot people on the street doesn't make you the "King of Thieves"."

Malik rolls his eyes, wondering if the insanity that comes with hanging out with the two psychos will ever end.

"Jealous much?"

"You wish!"

"Wanna bet?"

"You're on!"

Idly Malik wonders what it'd be like to have some normal friends for a change. Then he ponders what the hell the two of them are even talking about. Just a minute ago they were discussing a hostile takeover by "alien pudding-loving nuclear slugs from outer space".

By the time his two friends are getting ready to arm-wrestle, Malik is fed up with them and stands up to leave.

"Malik-pretty, where are you going?" Mariku asks.

"Away from you two." Malik replies. "I'll see you back home. Just do me a favor and don't kill each other while I'm gone. And if I come home and find you two making out on the couch again, you're both equally dead, you hear me?"

Bakura waves him off. "Sure, whatever." He directs his next statement to Mariku. "Are we going to duel or what?"

"Duel? I thought we were going to arm wrestle?"

"Changed my mind."

Malik rolls his eyes and then exit's the nearly deserted coffee shop. He makes a mental note to never let the two of them talk him into getting coffee ever again. They're bad enough without the caffeine-filled drink.

Malik's eyes fall to the sidewalk as he lets his feet guide him. So lost in thought, he doesn't even notice he's in the park until the scent of roses hits his nose. He looks up from the ground and looks around for the source of the sweet scent, frowning when he doesn't find any rose bushes.

Annoyed with himself for looking in the first place, Malik shoves his hands into the pockets of his beige pants and continues walking. At least he tries, but a musical sound coming from off to the side stops him in his tracks. He stops for a moment, straining to listen to figure out where the pretty sound is coming from.

'_Pretty?' _Malik mentally hits himself in the head. _'What the hell is wrong with my head! I must be spending too much time around Mariku and Bakura._' He tries to move away from the sound, but soon finds his feet refuse to move. With a groan, the blonde Egyptian decides to see where the sound is coming from. It's better than standing in the middle of the pathway with an old lady who feeds pigeons staring at you.

Allowing his feet to move without his consent once more, he slowly drifts toward the musical sound. Creeping stealthily past some bushes, he catches sight of pure white hair and sucks in a breath as his eyes widen. _'It can't be!'_

Sitting on a small hill by a pond is his crush, Ryou Bakura. Soft looking white hair blows in the small breeze and the setting sun casts a golden-red hue on it. The boy hums a tune as his pencil brushes lightly over the sketchpad in his lap, occasionally glancing at the scenery.

Malik's pulse speeds up as he stands there and looks at the boy. _'He's… beautiful.' _Then something shoves him from behind and he tumbles down the hill toward Ryou. _'Oh shit!' _Before he closes his eyes he catches a glimpse of Bakura and Mariku running off. Actually, he only catches sight of a purple cape and a black trench coat, but as those two are the only people he knows that wear stuff like that… _'Those two are dead when I get my hands on them.' _He thinks before he rolls right into Ryou.

Fortunately, the smaller boy has set aside his sketchpad before Malik plows into him, so when they got rolling down to right by the lake, the sketchpad goes undamaged. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you see it) when they land Malik is on top of Ryou.

Malik opens his eyes and gasps when he finds himself peering straight into expressive brown eyes. "Eh… Hello?" He says weakly. _'IDIOT!' _He mentally screams at himself. "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" _'DAMN IT! Think, brain, and say something smart!'_

"Hello, Ishtar-san." Ryou says softly, avoiding Malik's gaze. "Do you think you could possibly get off of me?"

Malik blushes when he notices how he's sitting on the albino. "Right. Sorry!" He apologizes as he scrambles off the smaller boy. _'Is that a blush I detect?' _He wonders, watching Ryou's expression as he sits down beside him.

Ryou sits up and tugs down his white and blue shirt uncomfortably. Malik sits there quietly and watches him for a moment, trying to get his brain to function properly so he won't make a fool of himself.

"Ishtar-san, is there something you want?" Ryou asks.

"Huh?" Malik asks dumbly. Obviously his brain still has yet to sort itself out.

Ryou repeats his question more slowly and then waits for Malik to register what he said.

"Oh! No, not really." Malik replies, finally getting his brain to start working in a more normal fashion. He lays down in the grass and puts his hands behind his head, which causes his pale purple shirt to rise up and reveal his flat stomach.

Ryou blushes and looks away.

'_Defiantly a blush this time.' _Malik mentally grins victoriously. _'Malik: 1, Ryou: 0! Wait, why am I keeping a score?'_ Passing it off as an effect of hanging out with Mariku and Bakura, he studies the albino boy sitting in front of him. Long white hair cascades softly over his shoulders and frame his pale face, making his expressive brown eyes appear even darker. He's dressed in a simple white-cotton t-shirt and a pair of old faded blue jeans with small rips here and there.

Ryou shifts uncomfortably. "Ishtar-san, could you…" He falters when Malik moves closer and brushes his fingers through his hair.

"It really is soft…" Malik murmurs. "I wonder…" He leans forward and inhales deeply. _'Mmm… roses.'_

Ryou blushes darkly and emits a sort of strangled choking sound, unable to think of anything to say. Malik's lilac eyes take on a lighter hue as he raises his gaze to meet Ryou. The smaller sucks in gasp and nearly falls backward when he sees the stirring emotions in the Egyptian boy's eyes.

"I-Ishtar-san--!"

Malik lays a finger on Ryou's lips. "Call me Malik."

"Malik…" Ryou tests the name out.

"That's better." Malik smiles gently and brushes his thumb against the albino's cheek. "Beautiful…" He murmurs, unaware of saying it out loud.

Ryou's eyes widen. "W-what?"

Malik curses under his breath when he realizes what he said and leans back. '_Way to go, Malik! Nice job of completely blowing it! Idiot!'_ He soon finds himself rambling while trying to come up with something to fix it, but of course his brain decides to not work again and he winds up shouting, "Well you are!"

Ryou blushes darkly. "Oh…" He nearly squeaks. "Um… thank you?"

Realizing how close he is to the other boy, Malik pulls away to give Ryou more space.

The two once again lapse into silence, not knowing what to say. Around them birds chirp and noises of the city filter through the trees and other plant life.

"Say…" Malik begins awkwardly. "we have that project for history that we need to do. You know, the one on ancient Egypt. Would you like to come over and start working on it? I can understand if you don't want to." He says the last sentence quickly.

Ryou hesitates for a moment, an unknown emotion flickering through his brown eyes. "I'd like to get started on it." He says.

Malik smiles brightly. "Great!" He practically bounces up and then helps Ryou up. Grabbing the smaller boys hand, he leads him back up the small hill to the path, only after stopping to pick up the almost-forgotten sketchpad.

'_I hope those two aren't messing around in the living room again…'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Malik pauses outside his apartment room. "Just to warn you, I live here with Bakura Khalid and Mariku Leil and those two.. well, just expect the unexpected." He warns before unlocking the door and opening it. "I'm home!" He yells, leading Ryou into the kitchen. He turns to Ryou. "Wait here for a second."

Ryou nods and then begins looking around in interest. Meanwhile, Malik heads to the living room which is where he can here insane giggles and something being sprayed. He mentally groans when he hears Mariku giggle and say, "Open wide" before squirting something in Bakura's mouth.

'_Ra damn it! Not the whipped cream _again_!' _He storms into the living room. "I told you two no screwing around in the living room!" He growls angrily.

Malik is a little surprised about one thing though. And that's that Bakura and Mariku are fully clothed. On the other hand, the fact that Mariku is on top of Bakura holding a can of whipped cream is not very surprising.

"But Malik-pretty, we're not screwing." Mariku says innocently.

Malik turns bright red. "You-you-!"

Bakura smirks. "Yeah, Malik. We're not screwing."

If possible, Malik turns even more red. Whether it's in anger or embarrassment is unknown. "Shut up!"

"Malik, is everything alright?" Ryou calls from the kitchen, hearing them talking.

Mariku and Bakura exchange identical evil grins.

"Ooo, Malik-pretty has a friend over." Mariku cackles. "I wonder who it could possibly be."

"That voice sounded rather familiar." Bakura comments, his eyes glinting darkly. "It sounded like a certain person that a certain someone has a crush on."

"I KNEW YOU READ MY JOURNAL!" Malik yells. "I can't believe you, Bakura!"

Bakura looks at Malik in shock before smirking. "I was joking, but now that I know for sure… you're never going to hear the end of it!" He laughs.

"Malik?" Ryou hesitantly peeks into the living room, staying in the kitchen like Malik asked him to.

"He looks just like you, Kura!" Mariku squeals, clapping his hands together. "Can I hug him?"

"No." Malik and Bakura say in unison, while Ryou blushes and ducks back into the kitchen.

Mariku pouts. "Aww, you scared him away."

Bakura snorts. "_We _scared him away? Says the psychotic one."

"Shut up. You're just mad because I think he's cute and that he looks like you." Mariku retorts.

"He looks nothing like me." Bakura growls.

"Kura-kura's jealous!"

"I am not you psychotic dagger-ob--"

Mariku cuts him off by kissing him deeply and Bakura moans. Malik nearly sighs in relief but quickly realizes where this will go when Mariku runs his hands under Bakura's shirt.

"Room, now!" Malik snaps at them. "I don't need you to traumatize Ryou any more than you already have!"

Giggling maniacally, Mariku scoops up Bakura into his arms and hands his boyfriend the whipped cream can before winking at Malik and then heading off to his and Bakura's bedroom. Seconds later more giggling can be heard along with the familiar sound of the whipped cream being used.

Malik closes his eyes and counts to ten before fixing a smile on his face and walking into the kitchen. "Sorry about them." He apologizes. "Mariku never knows when to quit."

Ryou nods. "It's alright. From what I've seen that's what he normally does. That and I've run into him a few times…"

Malik blinks in surprise. "You have? He didn't do anything, did he?" He asks worriedly.

Ryou shakes his head. "No. The first time he thought I was Bakura and sprung up from behind me and hugged me. The second time he knew it was me and randomly hugged me while calling me 'cute'." A faint tinge of pink appears on his cheeks. "The time after that is was White Day and he came out of nowhere, hugged me, and gave me a chocolate. He said the chocolate was from you…"

Malik's jaw drops. "He did what? That conniving little-" He cuts himself off and glares at the closed bedroom door. "One of these days he's going to get himself killed. Whether it's by Bakura or me or some poor fool that he randomly hugs, I don't know yet."

Ryou gives a half giggle, unsure of whether Malik means it or not.

Malik claps his hands together. "So, how about we get started on our project?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"You don't have to walk me home you know." Ryou tells Malik.

The two of them are walking down the street and are almost to Ryou's house. Malik is walking as close as he can to Ryou without making the smaller boy uncomfortable and Ryou seems unaware of the closeness.

"I told you already, it's no problem. Besides, I need a break from hearing the two nuts I live with go at it." Malik says.

Ryou giggles. "They're not that bad. They were just joking, remember?"

Malik rolls his eyes and mutters something under his breath before saying, "Yeah, I know."

While Ryou was at his apartment, the two psycho's decided it'd be funny to see how crazy they could possibly drive Malik without actually doing anything bad. First the two continued with the whipped cream and giggling and laughing until Malik threw his shoe at the wall between his room and theirs. Then they headed back out to the couch and continued their actions there until Malik opened his door and threw the other shoe at them. (It hit Bakura) After that they ran around the house screaming in nothing but their boxers. (Mariku still had the whipped cream and was trying to get Bakura with it. Bakura had a pillow as his only defense.) That time Malik threw open the door and proceeded to chase the two around with a metal baseball bat. After blushing at the sight of the two in their boxers, Ryou leaned against the door and watched them, highly amused by the sight.

More than likely they would have continued but then Ryou politely asked them to stop. After cooing over how cute Bakura's little look-alike is, Mariku suggested a movie and the two settled down in the living room to watch Scary Movie 4.

"This is it." Ryou says, stopping outside the door of a small one-story house. "Thanks for walking me home, Malik."

"Again, it was no problem. It's not safe to be alone at night." Malik says.

Ryou looks at him worriedly. "What about you, though? You'll be walking back to your apartment alone. What if you get hurt?"

"I've got my cell phone." Malik tells him. "I'll chat with Mariku and Bakura on my way home. It's our usual precaution anyway."

For the third time that night the two lapse into silence.

"Well, goodnight." Malik says, turning to walk away.

"Wait!" Ryou grabs Malik's hand. Boldly he stands up on his toes and kisses Malik on the cheek. Malik freezes, not at all expecting the move. Ryou blushes darkly and then goes to open the door.

"Goodnight." He whispers softly, before opening the door and slipping inside.

Malik blinks in confusion and then a goofy grin spreads across his face. _'He kissed me! Ryou kissed me! So… what does this mean? Ahh! Now I'm even more confused!' _He pulls out his cell phone and dials Mariku's number. It rings a few times before someone answers and Malik automatically holds it away from him

"_WHOEVER IT IS WE'RE BUSY RIGHT NOW SO FUCK OFF!" _Bakura screams.

Malik puts the phone up to his ear. "Jeez, love you too, Bakura."

"_Oh, sorry about that, Malik." _Bakura says, before talking to Mariku. _"No, you can't have the phone. Remember what happened last time?"_

"_But it's my phone!" _Mariku whines.

"_Don't care." _Bakura replies, before ignoring his boyfriend to talk to Malik. _"So what are you so happy about? Usually you scream at me for answering the phone like that."_

Malik begins walking away from Ryou's house as he giggles. "Oh, 'kura you'll never believe it!"

"_Cute chibi-kura gave you his phone number?" _Mariku questions, having stolen the phone from Bakura. Bakura's screeches can be heard in the background.

Malik raises an eyebrow at the nickname his friend has given Ryou. "No."

"_Ooo! Ooo! You kissed him!" _Mariku squeals. _"Aww! So sweet! Chibi-me has a boyfriend! And he looks like 'kura-kura!"_

"_Give me the damn phone, Mariku! And stop calling me that!"_ Bakura snarls in the background.

Malik hears a loud thud and the sound of scuffling before Bakura comes back on the line. _"So you finally worked up your courage, huh?"_

Malik turns red. "Well… not exactly… He kissed me."

Bakura laughs loudly. _"Oh, this is priceless! You've gotta be kidding me! Hey Mariku, wait until you hear this…!"_

"Bakura! Don't you dare tell-!"

Too late, he can already hear the two laughing psychotically together. Malik curses. _'So much for trying to save my pride…'_

Mariku comes back on the phone_. "Aww, chibi-me got a kissy from his little chibi-kura."_ He coos, ignoring Bakura's furious yells about the phone and his nickname. _"Isn't that just so sweet?"_

Malik growls and begins threatening his two friends for the rest of the trip back to the apartment. Unfortunately for him, he uses up all of his good threats before he gets home and therefore has none to use when he's laying in bed and the two are going at it in their own bed.

After sticking earplugs in his ears to drown out the noise, Malik snuggles into his blankets to think about the days events. He giddily recalls when Ryou kissed him and a soft smile spreads across his face, even though it was just on his cheek. He falls asleep thinking of the sweet white-haired boy, thinking of what to do when he sees him the next day.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The next morning blows by without incident. Unless you count the extreme amount of time that Bakura and Mariku spent in the bathroom. Together. In the shower. At three in the morning. Malik curses the day he met the two of them and then remembers that without them he would be dead or worse and stops the cursing. The three take their two motorcycles to school like usual, with Bakura riding behind Mariku while Mariku drives far to fast on the road.

Somehow Malik still manages to arrive before the two of them, as he takes all the shortcuts he knows in order to avoid driving behind them. He'd rather not have an accident because of Mariku's reckless driving.

Today Malik has a plan. It might not turn out to be a good plan, but it's still a plan. He feels pretty confident about it, which is probably the reason he's whistling as he walks around the school grounds, searching for his pretty white-haired crush. He spots him talking to a short boy with tricolor hair that spikes up. Malik stealthily sneaks in that direction until he's right behind Ryou. He motions for Yugi to not say anything and then-

"Hello Malik." Ryou says without turning around.

Malik jumps, surprised that Ryou knew he was behind him. He collects himself quickly. "Good morning, Ryou."

Ryou squeaks when Malik wraps his arms around his waist and Yugi's tries to hide his grin. Malik grins widely and rests his head on top of Ryou's. "Hello there, Yugi. How are you?" He asks nonchalantly, as if it's everyday that he hugs Ryou and talks to Yugi.

"I'm fine. How about you?"

Malik shrugs. "Okay, I suppose. Things are going normally so far this morning."

"That's good." Yugi says. "Say, have you seen Yami?"

"Nope." Malik says, nuzzling the top of Ryou's head. _'So soft… so cute… so huggable!' _He resists the urge to squeal and embarrass Ryou more than he already has, if the blush on the white-haired boy's cheeks is any indication.

"Oh wait, I see him over there." Yugi says, peering around Malik and Ryou. "See you in class later, Ryou!" He says, winking at Malik before running off.

Malik glances in the direction the smaller boy is running to and smirks. Yami is nowhere in sight. _'I think I like the little Muto. He can be cunning when he wants to be. Interesting…'_

"Malik, is there something you want?" Ryou asks after a moment of just standing there.

Malik inwardly grins, having been waiting for Ryou to ask that very question. "Actually, there is something I'd like." He says softly, before unwrapping his arms from Ryou's waist and turning the smaller boy around. "I never got to say goodnight to you properly last night."

Ryou's eyes widen. "O-oh. About that-" He stops when Malik places a finger against his lips.

"You know, I was rather surprised by how bold you were last night." Malik tells him. "And then you ran off before I had a chance to say anything. I think now would be a good time to repay you, don't you?"

Ryou squeaks when Malik steps closer to him and leans down toward him. Brown eyes lock onto lilac ones and then…

Ryou begins laughing hysterically as Malik starts tickling, somehow knowing exactly where he's ticklish. He tries his best to squirm away from the blonde Egyptian, but it's no use. Soon tears of laughter are running down his face and he has given up in trying to get away. "Mercy! Mercy!" He gasps when it becomes too much.

Malik stops and wait's a second before leaning down and kissing Ryou gently on the lips. Warmth courses through his body at the contact and he soon pulls away, knowing Ryou has yet to catch his breath and that he's not helping matters. He is rather pleased to see a light blush across Ryou's cheeks.

The warning bell rings, but neither of them so much as move.

Malik brushes his thumb against Ryou's cheek. "So, do you want to work on that project some more tonight? Maybe this time I'll be able to properly say goodnight."

Ryou nods. "I'd like that."

Malik leans down and kisses Ryou briefly on the cheek. "See you later, kawaii-koneko." (1) He says softly before walking away.

Ryou blushes an even darker shade of red at the pet name.

"Aww, isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen, Yami?" Yugi asks his boyfriend, being loud enough so Ryou can hear him. Teasing his friend seems to amuse him to no end, particularly this morning.

Yami chuckles. "Yes, and if he stays standing still like a statue for too much longer then I believe we will all be late."

Ryou snaps out of his slight stupor and hurries over to his friends. "Come on guys, lets not be late!" He says cheerfully, the blush firmly in place on his cheeks.

Yugi and Yami blink in surprise, not used to seeing the white-haired boy so cheerful. The two exchange glances and then shrug before heading off to class together with Ryou.

Yugi inwardly smiles. _'Ryou's finally found someone to be with. I'm so happy for him! Now I won't feel so bad when I just want to hang out with Yami, because now he'll have Malik! Ooo! We can double date now! This is going to be fun!' _The smallest in the group begins making plans for later, unknown to his companions. Whether or not he'll get these plans to work, however, is a different story for a different time.

_**-N-O-T--S-O--A-L-O-N-E--A-N-Y-M-O-R-E--N-O-T--S-O--A-L-O-N-E--A-N-Y-M-O-R-E-**_

(1) Means, "cute kitten".

0-0-0-0

All of the guys: (nowhere near the computer room)

Bast: (grinning in a pleased manner)

Shiro: (in shock)

Kitsune: (reading a book and pointedly ignoring Bast and Shiro)

Kaze: (attempting to cool down the uncomfortably warm computer room using wind)

Bast: I think that went quite well, don't you?

Shiro: You're evil... and you broke the air conditioner! I'm gonna die thanks to you!

Bast: I didn't break the AC, it broke itself!

Kaze: (snorts) Says miss, "I blow things up for fun".

Bast: And anyway, you're not going to die from a little heat, hikari.

Shiro: (glares) A little. A little! It was frickin' 90-something degrees today and it's memorial day and we had to go to school! I spilled soda on my pants and got frickin' sunburn on my shoulder! And you're telling me it "wasn't hot"! Ra, you're worse than my sister wearing her black hoody and saying "it isn't that hot"! Meanwhile, I'm sitting there on the bus in light colored clothes one article of which is a light short-sleeved shirt, fanning myself with a paper fan after drinking all of my Pepsi! (breaths heavily) And it's still too hot!

Bast: (amused)

Shiro: Just shut up.

Bast: I said nothing.

Shiro: (now ignoring Bast) So, whoever thinks I should do some other one-shots that relate to this one just tell me. I'm thinking of doing one for a double date with either Yami and Yugi and Malik and Ryou, or Mariku and Bakura and Malik or Ryou. Or it could be a "triple" date and the three couples will head out together. (.(can you say "disaster"?).) The other idea I have is how Mariku and Bakura got together and how they met Malik. Let me know what you guys think.


End file.
